Petes Out-gunned 8-2 by Rangers
The Peterborough Petes travelled West to battle the red-hot Kitchener Rangers. Although the Petes took a mini-winning streak of their own into this contest, the Rangers were on the board very early, and very often, downing the Petes 8-2.
Things didn’t start well for Peterborough, who took two early penalties. The Rangers’ capitalized, as scoring leader Justin Bailey put the puck past Petes post-protector Scott Smith on a 5-on-3 from Max Iafrate and Gustaf Franzen. Just 23 ticks later, the Rangers scored on a 5-4 as Brandon Robinson scored from Dmitrii Sergeev and Ryan MacInnis, which was followed shortly by an even-strength Rangers goal off the stick off Mike Davies from Mark Bzowey and Sergeev.
Jody Hull called a timeout, which successfully calmed his team and ended the Petes’ first period nightmare. Peterborough picked up the physical play through the mid-way mark of the period, which lead to chances in the Kitchener end. Rangers netminder Dawson Carty was solid when needed, though, and the Rangers added yet another powerplay goal with 6.6 seconds to play as Robinson scored from Bailey and Ryan MacInnis to end the period with a 4-0 lead and an 18-9 shot advantage.
Peterborough’s effort was substantially better to start the second period, but after a great effort on the powerplay, Kitchener was at it again as Darcy Llewellyn floated the puck through a screen, assisted by Iafrate and Curtis Meighan to put the home side up by five. The Petes continued to generate offense, but to no avail with Kitchener proving too solid on the back end with time winding down on the middle period.
If the Petes had any momentum nearing the end of the second, Kitchener made away with it in a hurry, as Brent Pedersen scored on a breakaway from MacInnis, and Magyar slid the puck past Smith from Robinson and Franzen. At the end of the second, Kitchener also lead 33-22 in shots on top of their 7-0 goal advantage.
Just twenty-five seconds into the third, the Rangers went ahead 8-0 with a bouncing, flukey goal from MacInnis assisted by Bailey. The Petes got one back at the 6:55 mark, as Matt Spencer found Nick Ritchie to bring the score to 8-1.
At 10:26, Cam Lizotte and Ritchie set up Eric Cornel who scored from his back to double the Petes’ goal output. This would prove to be the final goal of the night, as Kitchener skated to an 8-2 win, with a 45-33 shot lead.
Brandan Robinson, Ryan MacInnis, and Justin Bailey were the first, second, and third stars, respectively. Tune in on Sunday as the Petes battle the rival Oshawa Generals at 6:05pm. Tickets are available here for next Thursday’s Subway Super Series, and don’t forget to follow the Petes on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram for the latest updates, contests, and more.
